Is it really safe to eat food grown in urban gardens?

Between the industrial waste, rats, and lead dust floating around, I wasn't sure too sure if I should start an urban garden. The question took me to an unexpected place. I wanted to start a vegetable garden in my backyard. But my yard is in Brooklyn, a land of street garbage, truck exhaust, and stray cats. So I decided to figure it out: Was it really safe to grow food there? I had no idea that the rabbit hole I burrowed in urban gardens would lead to dead cows in Georgia, a global contamination meeting in Sweden, and the strange price we pay to make sure kids don’t catch on fire. I started by calling Murray McBride, a professor at Cornell University who researches contamination, to find out if city gardens are really safe. According to McBride, I should be worried about one main thing: “We found lead to be the biggest problem,” he told me. “There can be high concentrations...